I participated in my first Whitewall 'ideation session' in Oxford today, led by the redoubtable Lucas Kruitwagen. Over two hours at sunny Mansfield College, seven colleagues from the Smith School and INET started off with some brainstorming warmup, before establishing some large questions, and then did a few rounds of divergent/convergent thinking to get to some concrete ideas. Having grown up in an era when 'brainstorming' gave us businesses like boo.com, my default switch is cynic, but the session was fantastic. The doctoral students and early career researchers were fizzing with ideas, but also had the temperance to acknowledge what was doable. We came up with something that I think could really work - and if it does, it's going to be a heck of a ride. We're all very excited. Watch this space.